Sherwin B. Nuland. Maimonides. New York, Schocken, 2005. xiii, 223 pp. $19.95 (paper)

Sherwin Nuland's book, Maimonides, is part of a series of books published by an organization called Nextbook. Nextbook, according to its website, is “created as a locus for Jewish literature, culture, and ideas.” Among other activities undertaken as part of that mission, Nextbook has commissioned a “Jewish Encounters” book series in which prominent authors consider notable individuals, issues, or events in Jewish history. The Jewish Encounters series, published in partnership with Schocken Books, “aims to create volumes at once edifying, entertaining, and wonderfully illuminating.” The first two books in the series are Nuland's on Maimonides and Robert Pinsky's on King David. It is meant to serve as “a gateway to Jewish literature, culture, and ideas for Jews and non-Jews alike.” Nuland begins his book on Maimonides with a disclaimer. He is, he claims, no expert. Instead, he writes as an “everyman,” approaching Maimonides not as a scholar but as a practicing Jewish physician of the twenty-first century, looking to see what he can find in the writings of his twelfth-century compatriot. The claim is charmingly disingenuous. Nuland is no ordinary physician. Author of numerous books about doctors, medicine, health, and illness, he is one of the most insightful and prolific physician-writers of our day. He is a historian of medicine, a student of Jewish law, and a master at explicating the mysteries of modern biomedical science. In addition, as he suggests in the prologue to this book, he is among those who have “frequently recited Maimonides' Thirteen Principles of Faith in our synagogues, had our photographs taken alongside his bronze statue in the Plaza of Tiberiades in Cordoba, made the pilgrimage to the site believed to be his grave in Tiberias, attended lectures about him by learned authorities, and tried to learn more by occasionally spending an evening reading directly from The Guide for the Perplexed.” In other words, Nuland is perhaps the perfect “everyman” to guide those of us who know little about Maimonides to an introductory appreciation.